(The Birmingham News/Hal Yeager)Auburn defensive back Daren Bates (25) hits Ball State half back MiQuale Lewis (33) in the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday September 26, 2009 in Auburn, Ala. AUBURN -- Three years into his playing career at a prominent private high school in Memphis, Daren Bates had received barely a sniff from a college recruiters.

So his family decided to do something bold.

They picked up and moved just across the state line to Olive Branch, Miss., enrolling in a public school that has seemingly developed into a college football farm team.

Not much more than a year later, Bates is a starting safety in the SEC and earning consistent praise from Auburn coaches and players.

Bates' journey to the Plains, he said, began with the move south to Mississippi.

Olive Branch High School has produced more than a dozen Division I football players in the past four years. Two of them -- Bates and injured offensive lineman Aubrey Phillips -- are on the Tigers' roster. A third, offensive tackle Shon Coleman, has verbally committed to sign with Auburn next year.

As Bates left Christian Brothers High in Memphis and prepared to move to his new school, Olive Branch coach Scott Samsel and his staff started mounting a publicity campaign to get the word out about the talented safety.

"Before I even transferred to the school, they made a highlight tape of my three seasons before that," Bates said. "They got me out there. The following summer, we went to six different camps. They made a highlight tape of 7-on-7s and me working out. They made highlight tapes during the season and after the season. They got those out to almost every SEC team, Big East, ACC, all of them."

That package wasn't special treatment for Bates.

"That's not just for me," Bates said. "He does that for all the players. Any player who wants to play college football, he'll do anything for us. He's a good person. I appreciate him very much."

Interest in Bates started picking up late in the recruiting process. He had committed to Arkansas State, but started receiving late interest from SEC schools such as Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee.

After doing plenty of "homework," the recently hired Gene Chizik decided to offer Bates a scholarship.

"There are always those under-the-radar guys and there's usually a story behind it," Chizik said. "We really went into some in-depth conversations with his high school coach, and we put a lot of trust into those guys. It was my belief that he was being very under-recruited, just by looking at his body and watching him play basketball. We just thought that he was one we definitely needed to take a chance on. So far, it's paid off."

The addition of an extra safety to Auburn's signing class in February was also well-timed.

Although Chizik didn't know it at the time, Auburn would suffer a barrage of injuries in the secondary over the next several months.

Mike McNeil broke a bone in his leg in the spring, and Aairon Savage tore his Achilles in the summer. Drew Cole was injured early in the season and might be done for the year. Mike Slade has been inactive for several games.

That has left Bates, a true freshman who even arrived at camp a few days late, one of the few options at safety opposite Zac Etheridge. The early returns have been promising. Coaches say he plays fearlessly, hits hard and has adapted quickly to the speed of the college game.

"He's improved every week," said defensive coordinator Ted Roof.

Bates has a muscle-bound 195 pounds on his 5-foot-11 frame, but he said his physicalness stems from his days as an undersized player.

"Ever since I was little, I was smaller than everybody else," he said. "I had to be aggressive. That's what I like to do."